New York jury ready to start deliberations at Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial
NEW YORK — A New York jury was expected to begin deliberations around noon Friday in the bribery trial of Senator Bob Menendez in New York City, after a judge reads them instructions on the law.
The trial has been playing out over the past two months in Manhattan federal court, where prosecutors say Menendez and his wife catered to the needs of three New Jersey businessmen from 2018 to 2023 in exchange for gold, cash and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. Menendez, 70, is also accused of acting as a foreign agent of the Egyptian government.
Menendez’s lawyers have argued that the senator did nothing wrong in his dealings with the businessmen and that the nearly $150,000 in gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash found in a 2022 FBI raid on the couple’s Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home were not proceeds of bribes.
Two of the businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, are on trial with Menendez. His wife’s trial has been postponed while she recovers from breast cancer surgery. All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty. Menendez did not testify.
Judge Sidney H. Stein began reading legal instructions to the jury late Thursday night, giving the jurors a road map to follow during their deliberations. He resumed reading the instructions shortly before 10 a.m. Friday. He had told them they would likely begin deliberating around noon.
To reach a verdict, jurors had to sift through the testimony of numerous witnesses, along with hundreds of emails, text messages, financial records and other documents. Prosecutors say the serial numbers on the gold bars prove they came from the businessmen.
The jury is also expected to take into account the testimonies of Jose Uribea businessman who pleaded guilty to charges related to a government cooperation agreement.
Among the witnesses called by the defense were: Sister of MenendezCaridad Gonzalez, who recalled how family members fled Cuba in 1951 with only the money they had hidden in a grandfather clock, before moving to New York City, where the future senator was born. He grew up across the Hudson River in the New Jersey cities of Hoboken and Union City.
Menendez’s attorneys argue that it was not unusual for the senator to keep large amounts of cash at home, given his family’s history.